Chapter 801 A Stern Warning
“Oh, am I being ridiculous?” Charles’ voice was dripping with sarcasm on the other line. With a snort, he then demanded, “You know as well as I do that I’m not being ridiculous. What the hell happened between you and Anya? Huh?”
“Anya?” Toby’s brows furrowed at the mention of this. “Why are you asking about her?”
“It’s because she went live when she apologized to Sonia and I looked into the reason behind the apology. As it turns out, you were the one who messed around with that chick, and now you’ve dragged Sonia into your problems!” Charles’ blood was boiling as he gave the table an angry slap.
Toby’s face darkened as he retorted, “Are you out of your mind? I never messed around with her! It’s not my fault I can’t do anything about others’ feelings for me!”
He admitted that he had sensed Anya’s feelings for him, but it wasn’t as if he had asked for them or even prompted them deliberately. As things were, Charles was wrongfully accusing him of rotten behavior!
“It’s true that you can’t help what others feel for you, but you allowed that woman to pick on Sonia, and that’s on you. You and Sonia are a couple now, but instead of treating her right, you let her deal with some crazy woman’s senseless confrontation. If you can’t give Sonia the best, Toby, I suggest you let her go before you hurt her all over again,” Charles warned frigidly.
Toby’s lips were pressed into a grim line. “This is between me and Sonia, so you don’t get to have a say in this. Also, I didn’t do wrong by her in any way, and I certainly did not cause crazy women to confront her on purpose. Why do you think Anya live-streamed that apology of hers in the first place? Would I treat her that way if I had fooled around with her?”
After hearing this, Charles stopped and felt the rest of his words die on the tip of his tongue. After all, he had known from the start that there was nothing going on between Toby and Anya. He only got angry because he found out about Anya’s romantic feelings for Toby, which led her to provoke Sonia.
None of this would have happened to Sonia if it weren’t for Toby, so Charles couldn’t resist calling him up to demand an explanation from him. At the thought of this, he scoffed and said sardonically, “Even if you never fooled around with Anya, you can’t deny that she has feelings for you, can you, Toby?”
“I never denied it, nor did I ever attempt to,” Toby countered coolly.
Narrowing his eyes, Charles snapped, “Well, since we’ve agreed on that, let me make something clear—watch yourself, Toby. You’re already seeing Sonia, so don’t go around making trouble for her or treat her wrong. Otherwise, I’ll kill you even if it means throwing my life away.”
He had stood guard over Sonia for over twenty years, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to watch her get hurt by the same man twice in this lifetime.
Toby, on the other hand, was impassive. His voice fell flat as he said, “You should feel lucky that you’re threatening me because you’re looking out for Little Leaf. I wouldn’t have let you get away with it otherwise.”
He promptly hung up the call, no longer wanting to entertain the crazy Charles.
Meanwhile, Charles stared incredulously at the homepage of his phone screen and scoffed indignantly, though he was no longer quite so angry. Aside from wanting to cuss at Toby, the only other reason he even called the guy in the first place was to find out what he planned to do with Anya and her ridiculous antics.
Now that he knew for sure that Toby found Anya just as irritating, his rage naturally subsided, but that didn’t mean it had died off entirely. I need him to know that I was not joking about that threat of mine.
Soon, he found himself dialing Sonia’s number.
Presently, Sonia was in the middle of a business discussion with Daphne when she heard her phone ring. She fished it out, and when she saw the call was from Charles, she lit up instantly. Then, she suddenly thought of something and glanced up at Daphne, who happened to be sitting across from her. “It’s Charles.”
Daphne’s eyes lit up when she heard his name, but the sparkle disappeared just as quickly. She regained her composure as she lowered her gaze and muttered sadly, “He must have something important to tell you if he’s calling, Chairman Reed. Just answer it. Don’t mind me—it’s not as if there’s anything going on between us anyway.”
Indeed, she and Charles shared no relationship whatsoever, but the baby she was carrying remained the only thing that tied them together. However, this wasn’t the kind of connection she wanted to have with him. At the thought of this, her hand subconsciously fluttered to her lower abdomen and caressed it.
Sonia noticed this and asked in concern, “Daphne, is your stomach feeling unwell?”
Shocked, Daphne hurriedly took her hand off her abdomen and answered in a high-pitched voice, “Not at all!” She could hear her heart beating in her ears as she shook her head. While trying to calm her nerves, she forced out the most natural smile she could manage and added, “I’m perfectly fine.”
“Really?” Sonia still looked worried. “I saw you touch your stomach earlier, though.”
“Uh…” Daphne averted her gaze, seemingly flustered as she lied by saying, “I’m just a little hungry, and I thought my stomach was rumbling. I’m really fine, Chairman Reed. Don’t worry about me at all and pick up that call. Don’t keep President Lane waiting.”
Upon seeing how serious she looked, Sonia had no choice but to believe that she was hungry. After nodding, she picked up the call and greeted pleasantly, “Charles.”
“Sonia.” Charles’ voice filled the other line as he said, “I know all about that Anya incident.”
“You do?” She was somewhat surprised.
He hummed in response. “Of course. I mean, everyone was talking about it online, so it’s hard for me to not hear about it. That said, I did get curious about your relationship with that woman and why she apologized to you, so I had someone look into it. As it turns out, some of the netizens had guessed it right; that woman is one of Toby’s mindless admirers!”
Sonia laughed. “I can’t believe you actually had someone look into something like this!” The incident had taken place two nights ago, and Toby had yet to block public access to the video back then. As such, it wouldn’t have been hard for anyone to look into this at all.
He pouted. “I’m like a brother to you, aren’t I? It’s within my duty to look into anything that threatens your safety, and I wanted to make sure that the woman didn’t pick on you. But lo and behold, the information I found made me hate her more.”
“She didn’t exactly pick on me,” Sonia corrected as she toyed with the pen in her hand. “She’s just one of those skanks who’s trying to make life difficult for me.”
He snorted and frowned before pointing out, “It is all Toby’s fault. Why can’t he just stay in line and stop attracting all these annoying and relentless women?”
“Truthfully, he didn’t attract them on purpose. He was only trying to be nice, but Anya decided to cling onto him; there’s nothing surprising about that. I mean, with his face and his status, any girl would swoon in his presence. He can’t help his own charisma, so cut him some slack.”
“You guys aren’t even remarried, yet you’re already standing up for him,” Charles drawled sourly.
She chuckled. “I’m not standing up for him; I’m just stating the facts. He didn’t ask for Anya’s affection, and since he isn’t at fault, I can’t just put him in jail for something he didn’t do. In fact, when he found out that Anya was picking on me, he demanded that she publicly apologize to me and explain the reason behind the apology. You know as well as I do what would happen to her once she confesses the reason for the apology, so Toby nipped this in the bud and defended me. What more can I ask for?”
“Wait, the public apology was Toby’s idea?” Charles asked.
She nodded and said, “Of course. You didn’t think it was my idea, did you?”
“Hmm, I actually did think it was your idea,” he admitted. “I didn’t expect it to be Toby’s instead.”
Sonia laughed again. “I know you only called because you wanted to voice your many opinions on Anya and Toby, but now that you’ve heard the full story, do you have anything else to add?”
“I suppose I’ll let him off the hook this time, seeing as he arranged for the apology and all, but…” Charles frowned deeply. “I saw the live-stream earlier, and while that woman did give a long-winded and tearful apology, she never did mention what she was apologizing for.”
